Personally, when I order something these days, it’s been on eBay. It kind of sucks though, and half of the packages still arrive in Amazon boxes anyway…?
Where do you liked to order stuff from, that’s not Amazon?
Personally, when I order something these days, it’s been on eBay. It kind of sucks though, and half of the packages still arrive in Amazon boxes anyway…?
Where do you liked to order stuff from, that’s not Amazon?
I think one of the bigger problems with amazon is that it replaces so many different sectors all at once. I don’t think any one single replacement is really solving the problem, furthermore I don’t think an internationally relevant replacement for any one sector is that great either.
I guess the most recent amazon temptation was a utility cabinet, I found a nice one on amazon, but then searched and found an equivalent one from Canadian tire.
The hardest thing for me to break is audio books. I use the library but I find it rarely has what I want in stock, I have tried piracy but I can’t find a good tracker for audio books and I like supporting authors when I can. Audible is really cheap compared to every store front, especially when buying credits in bulk.
For audiobooks, I personally use Libro FM, though audiobooks.com is also an alternate source. Unfortunately if you’re looking only at price, you won’t be able to move past Audible because they employ so many shady and bad-for-authors practices that their prices are artificially low. If you’re only interested in getting DRM-free Cory Doctorow books, Craphound.
Audible costs me about 12CAD/book
Libro seems to only cost 20CAD/book which is a significant hike but it’s not as bad as buying the books outright which costs 30-40$ which is simply too much for me to afford. I’ll probably switch when I run out of ausible credits thanks for the rec!
I’m not paying for any subscription media services right now, but I did try both Audible and Everand after having the same bad luck finding audiobook piracy options, one time. I found Audible confusing and frustrating, but Everand was pretty great. When I’m in the market for audiobooks again, I’ll probably subscribe to them again.
I don’t love that they stop working when your sub expires (unlike audible) but that price does have me really tempted.
Blick is the place for art supplies.
*expensive art supplies. It’s always worth looking to see if you have a creative reuse center nearby.
I’ve not heard of a “creative reuse center”, but if it’s a metro thing, Amazon and Walmart market are used more often by more rural people. As such, the option needs to be browsable and orderable from home. Estate sales, the bid wars on art supplies get crazy to the point of surpassing retail.
Blick prices are decent imo, and I’ve been buying since the 90s. Art supplies themselves, like everything DIY and “maker” zone, have skyrocketed in price, unless you’re going for trash art sets from Ross or similar. The top grade paints and brushes are always ridiculous, wherever you go. Brand matters.
Blick sells canvas by the yard for a good price, it’s my go to for it. Clearance deals are sometimes remarkable.
Other than that, what’s left? Michaels? Hobby Lobby?
Creative reuse are where people can donate their old art supplies and you can also go and buy old art supplies for cheap. Everything is used or old. The concept of this kind of store seems to be a pretty new-ish thing that has been popping up and I have seen some in rural locations. I tend to buy canvases that have already been painted on and just paint over what’s already on it. Theres also a ton of cheap fiber arts supplies you can buy for cents. I got a Canon AE-1 and like 8 rolls of expired film there for $30 too.
But it will be difficult to find high end stuff there unless you go every day and wait around for someone to donate it (with no guarantee of that actually happening). Paintbrushes and oil paints, I’d choose blick.